Hip-hop took the concept of musical collaborations to a whole new level. Multiple artists and rappers would get together, each feeding off the others’ energy and style to create masterpieces. A good example is DJ Khalid’s “All I Do is Win”, which featured, Ludacris, T-Pain, Rick Ross and Snoop Dogg. Similarly, “We Takin’ Over” featured, Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Bird Man, and Lil’ Wayne. In the MV, unknown T-Pain and Pit Bull are also present. The Korean hip-hop artist, Verbal Jint has taken this concept to heart. His last two albums, “Go Easy” and “10 Years of Misinterpretation,” a total of 22 songs are all collaborations. He has collabed with Kpop powerhouses like 2NE1’s CL and Ailee. It’s actually really difficult to find a recent song of his that isn’t a collaboration.

Verbal Jint, who recently headlined the AMF concert at B.B. King’s in the heart of New York City, spoke to Good.Mo.Music and said “I love collaborations. When I do collaborations I think of what I can get out of the other artist… the side they don’t even know they had.” He then added, that Hyorin of the Kpop group Sistar is the artist he wants to collab with next. “She’s got that …. grit and soulfulness that’s unusual in Korea.”

Verbal Jint’s style of hip-hop is rather minimalist, and reminiscent of the 90’s hip-hop. At the New York City concert on May 22, 2014, he started his performance with a rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s “Please Don’t Kill my Vibe”. Kendrick Lamar is another artist, whose version of hip-hop also veers towards the old-school and minimalist style, taking off were Tupac left off. During our sit-down with verbal, he dropped the names of “Andre 3000” of “Outkast” and “Cee Lo Green,” as artists that inspire him – his “heroes”. He said, “… they don’t hesitate… I think I got the courage musically, from those kind of artists.”

Verbal Jint recently released a new single on June 27 titled “Just Another Rapper.” In it… you guessed it, he collabs with label mate San E. and Swings.